One
by Yoshi's Best Pal
Summary: Remember when Neo woke up in that pod in the 1st movie, just after his mind had been freed? Well, this is my interpretation of the scene. 1shot songfic, enjoy!


_**One**_

DISCLAIMER: All...You know what? Screw it, you oughta know the drill by now.

_I can't remember anything  
Can't tell if this is true or dream  
Deep down inside I feel to scream  
This terrible silence stops me_

_Now that the war is through with me  
I'm waking up, I can not see  
That there is not much left of me  
Nothing is real but pain now_

_Hold my breath as I wish for death  
Oh, please, God, wake me_

The first thing the man noticed was that he seemed to be floating in some sort of thick fluid. The second thing he noticed was that he could not breathe, so he did what made sense: He pulled himself hinto an upright sitting position, which was somewhat difficult due to a strange weight pulling at his back and head. After he reached this position, he noticed a third thing: His eyes were closed. He tried to open them, but the fluid in which he was covered functioned a lot like glue-his eyelids were stuck shut. However, he found the strength to put some effort into it, and with a great tug, he finally managed to force his eyes open.

At that exact moment, he became aware of two things: that he was completely bald, and, with the exception of a loincloth wrapped loosely around his groin area, that he was completely naked. But his eyes were still blurry, so he waited a few more seconds, after which they cleared up. With a clear sense of vision, he took his first good look at where he was...and could not believe what he was seeing. There were hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of capsules exactly like the one he himself was in.

Was this the reality that he had apparently been blinded to his whole life? He remembered having a great job, great friends, and a great home life. He also remembered what his name had been: Thomas Anderson, computer programmer/hacker, online alias "Neo". Was that still who he was? He was not sure, but he felt like he had just been born again, literally-mainly due to the fact that the capsule he had been in acted much, if not exactly, like a mother's womb.

_Back in the womb it's much too real  
In pumps life that I must feel  
But can't look forward to reveal  
Look to the time when I'll live_

At that point, he realized what the strange weight pulling on his backside was. It was a set of tubes that, he hypothesized, functioned in much the same way as a baby's umbilical cord-keeping the life-form in the womb supplied with the proper vitamins and minerals. The tubes were sticking into a bunch of holes that seemed to be placed all down his back. There was also a tube in the back of his head. There were tubes in his front, as well, and they were "plugged" into some...awkward spots.

_Fed through the tube that sticks in me  
Just like a wartime novelty  
Tied to machines that make me be  
Cut this life off from me_

_Hold my breath as I wish for death  
Oh, please, God, wake me_

Neo looked around for a possible means of escape, but none came to him, so he decided to just gather what information he could.

_Now the world is gone; I'm just one  
Oh, God, help me  
Hold my breath as I wish for death  
Oh, please, God, help me_

He saw robots, robots, and more robots. They all seemed to be collecting these capsules for...something. Maybe what was in them? Neo took a look at the capsule nearest to him...and got the shock of his life.

_Darkness  
Imprisoning me  
All that I see  
Absolute horror  
I cannot live  
I cannot die  
Trapped in myself  
Body my holding cell_

In the capsule was another human being, in the same stasis that he had apparently been in.

_Landmine  
Has taken my sight  
Taken my speech  
Taken my hearing  
Taken my arms  
Taken my legs  
Taken my soul  
Left me with life in hell_

Before he had any time to register anything else, the tubes in Neo's body disconnected and retreated from his person. A split-second later, he felt the fluid draining from the capsule. When it reached half-empty, a door in the back of the capsule opened, and Neo was taken, along with the fluid, along the longest slide he'd ever been on, though it was probably more of a drainage tube or a garbage chute, rather than a water slide. Plus, it was much faster than any roller coaster he'd ever been on, and although he hadn't been on too many, the ones he had been on were pretty damn fast.

Suddenly, the bottom dropped out from under Neo, and he felt himself falling. He landed in an ocean of what had to be water, because it didn't feel thick, like that embryonic fluid. But the landing did hurt like hell, and as he floated to the surface, he felt himself begin to lose consciousness.

_Must stay awake,_ he thought to himself. But the sensation was too much to overcome, and he only registered one more thing before passing out: the feeling of being hoisted bodily up into the air.

When Neo woke up, his vision was blurry again, but this time, it was from dizziness. People slid in and out of focus, but he couldn't make out who they were. That is, except for one man, due to the fact that Neo had heard the man say this before Neo passed out again:

"Welcome...to the real world."

* * *

A/N: I'm pretty sure the scene description was somewhat off, but give me a break, because I haven't seen the original _Matrix_ in ages, so this was mostly done from memory. I'm pretty proud of it. Hopefully, you all enjoyed it.

DISCLAIMER: "One" is the exclusive property of Metallica. The only thing I own is a legal MP3 and ten of their CDs(from "Kill 'em All" to "Death Magnetic"), as well as the S&M and Cunning Stunts concerts).

END


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